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RoboTeleCop app aims to bust rogue telemarketers

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Ever get a call from someone, or some machine, trying to sell you something, even though your number is on the Do Not Call List? A new startup in downtown Detroit thinks it might have an answer for you.

RoboTeleCop is creating a mobile app that goes after robocalls and telemarketers disturbing people on the Do Not Call List. Every time one of those people, or machines, calls a user of the app the call is logged and the caller flagged. The app then gives the aggregated information to a partnering law firm to go after the worst offenders in small claims court.

"The consumer would receive $100 to $300 for each violation," says Scott Kloustin, co-founder of RoboTeleCop.

The downtown Detroit-based startup, it calls Bamboo Detroit home, got its start at the most recent Detroit Startup Weekend. The company took second at the event where it built up a basic concept of the app. The handful of people working at the startup are working to build out Beta versions of the app for Android and iPhone.

"We're planning out how we're going to polish the app so it works on different devices," Kloustin says. "Hopefully, within 3-6 weeks it will be in the app store."